Child of mine
Seto kaiba walks out from a restaurant he had intended to enjoy and would have had it not been for the child screaming outside, screaming like they where dying. He storms out the front door, his trench coat whipping out behind him. He scans the area to look for the source of his current irritation, the sky is purplish blue and pink around the setting sun. on the sidewalk he sees people hurrying away from a man holding down a child, he cant see the mans face but he sees a thick head of Spanish orange hair. He wears a white t shirt with faded print and blue jeans the boy is small about six maybe seven years old. He has long black hair pale skin and the lungs of an opera star. He wears tapered black pants a light blue shirt with a picture of a purple kuriboh printed over the front. He screams violently throwing his head back and forth kicking as hard as he can, his small hands claw at the blond man desperately trying to let him self free. The blond man sitting on the sidewalk has his strong arms wrapped snugly around the boys arms and torso preventing him doing any real damage aside from the continuous headbutting that is. Kaiba snarls and walks briskly over to the situation, as he gets closer he can hear the blond man trying to quell the child rage
"its ok, we'll be home soon and you can have dinner and-"
He hears a familiar voice and slows himself as he approaches the seemingly disturbed child. There it is the mans voice is quivering as he continues.
" I'm so sorry I'm so sorry I'm so sorry"
Seto looks down at them with his arms folded over his chest and says
"Jesus Christ what is wrong with this creature! Are you sure it's fit to be out in the general public!"
jounochi katsuya looks up with deep desperation,not even computing his audience.
" its not his fault! Its really not-"
Just as he tries to defend the child he is struck with a particularly strong headbutt leaving him with a bloody nose. Seto sneers
"you where saying?"
Jou looks up still bleeding and pressing his chin down firmly on the boys forehead, halting anymore attempted headbutts.
"hes sick! He he has aspergers!"
The sneer falls off setos face, his arms fall to his sides.
"ah... I see."
He slips his trench coat off, then pushes it over the boy closing it at his back and wrapping the long sleeves around the boys torso twice before knotting it on his chest. This stops the boy from continuing to try and claw jous flesh off him,but he still kicks furiously, until seto wraps his designer leather belt around the boys knees. Jous looks at him bewildered and exhausted only to be cut off before he can question his rescuer.
"where did you park mutt?"
"what? I dont have a car."
Seto is less than surprised and sighs exasperatedly, pinching the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger to try and stall a quickly forming headache.
"well how did you get down here."
Jou picks up the boy who is now breathing heavily and glaring daggers in no particular direction and stands up only to find that he is still several inches shorter than kaiba.
"we took the train, I had to come down here to get him his food, hes picky but we haven't even made it to the store."
kaiba looks at him blankly for just a moment, flips open his phone and says
"now!"
He slaps the phone shut before anyone can say hello, in no more than a moment a long glossy black limousine rounds the corner and halts directly beside kaiba. The driver is a plain looking man about a head shorter than kaiba, he walks briskly around the vehicle and opens the door, kaiba rolls his wrist motioning for jou to get in. jou climbs carefully into the vehicle making sure not to jostle the boy, he sets him down gently in his lap. jou hold the boys head directly over his heart, the rythmic sound of its beating slowly calming the pale boy. Kaiba slips in, setting himself across from jou
"where do you live?"
Jou just stares for a moment, just long enough for kaiba to see the lack of sleep under his eyes.
"314 w warwick, im in the blue apartments."
"what floor?"
"4th"
he almost shouts at the driver
" you heard him."
With that he raises the privacy screen and looks critically at jou.
"whats his name?"
Jou looks down at the boy now sleeping in his arms and gives an exhausted grin.
"akira, hes really smart... hes just having a hard time."
kaiba crosses one leg over the other letting his boot bounce lightly in the air as they go over a speed bump.
"how did you acquire him?"
The smile fades from jous face.
"hes a lot to handle see, cause his syndrome don't really allow much room for change, like at all. And cause his mom had a real hectic schedule and his dad was almost never home, worked a double almost daily. So he had these fits all the time and no one wanted to babysit...n his mom couldn't handle it anymore so... she. I know she loved him wit all her heart but she was so ashamed-"
"she was ashamed of her son?"
Seto says with more snap than he meant to.
"no! She was ashamed of herself, cause she didn't have the patience for him so she always wound up screaming at him... one day his dad came home and she was in the tub. Just. Laying. There. Gone, she was all gone."
Seto doesn't say anything, he just waits.
"I'm his godfather see, so when they took Akira away from his dad- he got sent to me."
"oh, I see."
"I know I can take care uh him I just gotta start, I gotta get started see and 'dats the hard part. Getting All his things together and in order, get him in a school that can handle him, and the right food. I got all the patience in the world for this guy... I just don't got much else."
"kaiba looks out the window watching the quality of life tumble down as they get closer to joeys neighborhood.
"what will he eat?"
Joey carefully shifts in place as he digs in his pocket for a list akiras father had written hastily when Joey arrived to pick up akira. he handed the folded and crumpled piece of paper over to kaiba, who unfolds it with the very tips of his fingers careful not to tear it, he quirks an eyebrow at jou and says flatly.
"this is expensive food."
jou sighs heavily
"I know."
"is this you?"
Kaiba says as he stares out the tinted window of his limousine at a suspicious looking blue building, with questionable looking people hanging around the door.
"yea thanks for da ride."
kaiba looks at him curiously
"what makes you think I'm done?"
He pushes a button to lower the privacy screen,raises the small folded bit of paper to the driver.
"you have one hour to gather these things and bring them up to the fourth floor door number..."
he looks at jou
"6C"
The driver nod in the mirror with a curt response.
"yes sir Mr kaiba."
kaiba climbs out of the limo first, then picks Akira out of jous arms. Kaiba gives no hint of passing the child back to jou immediately so jou just opens the door to his building and guides kaiba up the narrow stairwell. Kaiba tries his best not to mention the faint odor of vomit spilling out of one shut door along with what looks like water damage all over the hall walls. They continue up the stairs in silence with random tenants sticking their head out their doors and watching them pass.
"jou ?"
a woman says from a crack in her door
"good evening ma'am"
They pause as the old woman slowly opens her door just a bit wider
"wait one sec' there I got summin for you."
Jou waits nervously, kaiba notes the smell from her apartment is like a bread bakery wafting out and reminding him he never did actually eat. They hear a grunt then a thump and the old woman panting. Jou knocks gently on the door
"do you need help ma'am?"
He slips in and back out again with a cardboard box tucked under his arm. He backs out with a light nod and says just before quietly shutting the door.
"tell everyone I said thank you ok. Yes , we'll be alright thanks."
kaiba looks curiously at the box then continues up the stairs after jou. Jou opens the door with a single key attached to a toy red eyes.
The door squeaks open jou waits for seto to walk through before shutting and locking the door behind him. seto find himself quite surprised as he looks around to see a relatively clean apartment with a few books tossed on the only slightly damaged coffee table. The walls are painted a pale blue color and adorned with several framed and unframed pictures of his sister (whose name seto couldn't recall)yugi honda anzu bakura and even a group photo with kaiba standing in the back looking distracted. The couch is long enough to accommodate three people and is covered with a black blanket thats tucked into the seats and safety pinned to the seams. Tossed on the couch are three red round throw pillows, one of which has ' duel city ' printed on it. Just a few feet from the left of the couch is a small two seat dining table with folding chairs, set on it is a coffee mug, a short clear glass with dry orange juice stuck to the bottom. Further from that is the kitchen, clean aside from the tossed papers and few dishes. On the wall opposite the couch where the t.v. would go is just an empty space. on the far right of that wall is a small hallway, the first door is to a dark bedroom the door of which is only slightly open a few feet past that is bathroom, all white aside from a new shower curtain covered with orange frogs. In an orange basket by the tub are a pile or rubber ducks and blue boat. at the foot of the sink is a small wooden step stool. Jou opens the door at the very end of the hall and flips on the light to reveal newly painted walls,all covered with misty shades of orange pink and blue. The bed is a solid wood captains bed with a fluffy blue comforter dotted with pictures of technicolor frogs. Jou carefully unties the sleeves of setos trench coat unraveling it from akiras small body so seto can gingerly set him down on the pillow covered bed and pull the cover up to his chin. Looking around seto sees several boxes stacked along the colorful walls only two of which are open, one filled with books paper and toys- the other with clothes. They both slip out of the room flipping off the light switch and closing the door quietly. they stand awkwardly in the living room with no t.v. for a moment.
"thank you kaiba, you don't have to do this at all... so thank you."
kaiba laces his fingers together over his belly and just nods, jou shifts his weight from one foot to the other nervously.
"you can sit down, would you like something to drink?"
kaiba looks at the couch for a moment before sitting carefully at the edge, folding his hands on his knees and responding.
"just water thank you..."
kaiba examines the parallel lines in the carpet wondering where jou keeps the vaccuum, jou peeks out from the door of the fridge waving a small bottle of flavored water with a picture of a very happy fish on the label giving a thumbs up.
"I just have the kid water is that alright?"
kaiba looks up at him bewildered raising one hand to catch the small bottle that jou pitched at him
"kid water?"
he runs his thumb over the label examining it curiously, he notes that the happy fish on the label claims to love this particular flavor.
"why would a fish like strawberry's?"
jou plops down on the couch next to him popping open a knock off cola.
"what fish has thumbs?"
kaiba snorts at the comment while unscrews the sports top and takes a sip,he smirks at the familiar taste.
"ah, the label used to have a mermaid on it..."
jou looks at him confused and asks after swallowing his swig of soda
"how'd you know that?"
he looks at the bottle fondly
"the maids would give us this because we wouldn't drink the mineral water."
jou quirks an eyebrow, then stares at the blank wall across from them. He bites his lip nervously as he simply blurts a question rather than wait for a more opportune moment to ask
"kaiba why are you helping me?"
kaiba sets the small bottle down on the coffee table, then looks intensely at jou carefully weighing his response.
" I... I wish very much that when I was younger. Perhaps that some one would have had that kind of patience with …."
He lets the sentence hang for just a moment before deciding that he was being childish.
"with my brother and I. Mokuba as you may have noticed is a creature of habit rarely venturing from his daily routine-which is why I was quite disturbed every time he was taken. Even if the kidnappers didn't hurt him he was liable to hurt himself."
Jou looks with wide eyes at seto as he presses the tips of his very long fingertips to his lips to prevent himself from chewing on them. He stares at the wall while debating how to continue.
" I was accustomed to my brother see, I've always been that way. I didn't realize until the orphanage that his behavior was quite so unusual... so I tended to get myself into a bit of trouble on a daily basis because I couldn't stand people treating him like he was … some kind of leper."
jou notices kaibas brow furrow into a sharp angle just from a thought.
"no one not even the worked had enough patience to much more than either leave him to hurt him self or to just scream at him. No one did what he needed them to, I was always the one to hold him down and take care of him since then. I knew I had to because no one else knew how. or maybe they just didn't care."
Jou looks at kaiba as if hes never seen him before, as if he a thing to be studied
"I'm sorry kaiba, I'm real sorry bout dat. You did good by him thou'. No one ever noticed that anything was up with him- I never woulda' known or guessed"
kaiba smirks at jou
" you dont know how much it meant to me...means to me to hear you speak about that boy the way you did."
jou flushes lightly
"hes a good kid and hes my family ya know?"
seto watches jou try not to look at him
"I will help you with him, I don't want him to be taken from you and put away with people that don't give a crap."
"I just need someone to watch him while I get his papers and everything set up."
seto takes a sip of his strawberry water.
"what time do you need me here tomorrow?"
"well my first meeting it at 7:30 tomorrow-"
kaiba cuts in
"I'll arrive at 6:00 so that Akira has a moment to adjust to my being here, ill have my driver take you to all your appointments so that he wont have to be without you for longer than is needed."
with that kaiba put the water down and began to rearrange his schedule from his phone.
Seto looks up from his phone and sees an ugly purple bruise forming on jous cheek and chin. Jou seems oblivious.
" you don't even care that he hit you?"
jou smile and drags his fingers across the purple blight on his face.
"nah' I can take a hit but he shouldn't have to."
kaiba smile's, not smirk's smiles and feels his chest tighten for a moment as he watches jou give a satisfied smile. kaiba looks away, not noticing the fact that hes still smiling- from his peripheral vision he sees that jou is mulling over a thought and staring at the group photo with kaiba in the back.
"hey kaiba."
"yes?"
kaiba quickly noticed the tone and manner in which he spoke and mentally scolded himself, jou not looking at him and being distracted did not notice.
"I..."
he looks down ward into the open part of his soda can
"This it really means a lot. I would have asked yug' for help but he runs the shop now, he don't got the time. Honda's in boot camp training for the police force and anzu finally made it to new york."
kaiba watches jou fidget trying not to fumble his words.
" I know I'm an ass. I know you felt out of place with us"
he points with his chin to the group picture
" but I always considered you part of us, sometimes I didn't like it. Though I never ever said you weren't our friend. Now, that your doing this I mean … I'm happy your still here, still I guess willing to talk to me. I just dont wanna lose everyone ya know"
seto stares at jou raptly his eyes locked on the the blond who seems to be confessing that he always called kaiba his friend. This is what scares kaiba, not a giant dragon threatening to eat the worlds soul. Not all the monster's in his duel deck becoming real. What scares him is not having a clue what to say back, to the fact that someone appears to genuinely appreciate his presence.
"jou. I. Um uh"
he trips on his works not meaning to have said anything out loud, jou chuckles lightly. kaiba begins to laugh as well just to fill the silence. The know in his stomach tightens and he looks away trying to think of something to say.
" im confused im sorry, I dont really associate with people my own age, especially after high school. Just business associates and mokie."
jou just smiles nervously trying to take a drink from an empty can, setos bottle completely full since he had spent so much time pretending to read the label he didn't really drink anything.
"so who do you hang out with? Only mokuba?"
kaiba thinks about situation and before he says it tries to make it sound less pathetic.
"i spend time with … I guess they would be auditions."
the blonds just waits for an explanation
"well, women. Women who want to be Mrs. kaiba. I don't generally find them interesting most of the time because...I know if things ever went sour... they would disappear like smoke."
he trails off and looks up at the ceiling trying not to feel the gaping emptiness that had nestled deeply into his heart since separation with everyone at graduation. He tries not to feel the sting in the corners of his eyes, so bites it back and sees jou looking at him.
" I wanna say I understand, but I can imagine..."
he looks at the blank wall in front of him and twists the tab on his empty soda can.
" I'm imagining it and I'm already depressed. That has to be awful to sleep in a big luxurious bed and have half of it always cold."
"yes...it suck's..."
jou doesn't say anything else, so kaiba takes a drink of his strawberry water
"so, you haven't heard from anyone?"
jou looks at him again, looking away from the wetness that clings to the eyelashes in the corner of his eyes.
"anzu writes every month, and I get a call from yugi every few weeks, a call from honda every month or so."
suddenly kaiba realizes hes the only one who didn't bother to even attempt to keep in touch with anyone, he sort of wanted to... but wasn't sure why he didn't.
"anzu is in new york? What is she doing there?"
"shes at some dance school there, hoping to make it to Broadway."
"if she does... I suppose I could fly everyone out to see her first show."
seto says it whimsically not sure why, but finds he doesn't dislike the idea.
"she'd love that, I can just about see her face now..."
kaiba recognizes the sound of sorrow. He thinks very much of a way to quell it
"when is akiras birthday?"
jou jerks out of his reverie, looks at kaiba then thinks for a moment.
"its October third."
kaiba smiles slightly
"theres almost no better birthday than that."
he types the date into the calendar of his phone as someone knocks on the door. Jou shoves himself out of his seat, kaiba blinks not remembering when it was that he had decided to lean all the way onto the couch. His back was flat against the back or the squishy couch and he noticed that at some point he had apparently kicked his feet up on the coffee table. He couldn't remember ever doing that,even at home.
Jou came through the living room helping the driver carry several bags of groceries he could never have afforded. kaiba peeks in the kitchen
"is that everything?"
"yes mr kaiba sir."
"well if thats the case then-"
jou pops out from stooping down in the fridge
"wait! Um if you want I can make dinner- I mean you did all this I could at least do that.."
kaiba looks confused for just a moment before turning to his driver
"I'll call for you when I'm ready to leave."
